SIDE NOTE: The portion of text with the asterisks represent a conversation that occured in the past.
Chapter Nine
"Mmph," Balki moaned as he opened his eyes and rubbed the back of his aching head. The last thing he remembered, he had been inside Bianca's time machine, trying to see if maybe he could help he and his cousin return home. He remembered as R.O.B. walked in on him just before he entered the giant egg.
*"Are you sure you know what you are doing?" R.O.B. had asked.
"Well of course I do; don't be ridiculous," Balki had replied.
"Then what are you doing?" R.O.B. queried.
"I have no idea," Balki responded. "R.O.B., can you help me?"
"Where do you wish to go?"
Balki typed in the word Dimitri on the computer and smiled as the word showed up in green letters on the black screen. "I want to go back to Cousin Larry's apartment so I can get Dimitri. If I can bring him back, then Cousin Larry and I can go home when he wake up. Do you know how to fix the machine so I can do this?"
"Dimitri is from Mypos?" R.O.B. asked.
"Yes! Mama give him to me when I was a small boy! R.O.B., you are smarter than the actual bear!"
"Type in Mypos as well," R.O.B. told him and Balki watched as his homeland was now on the screen. "Now just push the red button."
"Oh, I cannot wait to bring Dimitri back from our apartment; Cousin will be so proud of me!" Balki clasped his hands together before pushing the button.*
Now, as Balki slowly sat up, he could've sworn he remembered hearing R.O.B. say something else, but he couldn't remember what it was. Peeking over the blue wall of the egg, he looked out to see if he was actually inside the apartment or in the parking area.
"This doesn't look like our apartment!" he gaped as he saw that he was in the middle of what looked to be a construction zone. Something was being built about three yards away, but what was it? How far was he from the apartment? He had to get out and ask for directions.
Spotting someone a minute later, he ran over and flagged them down. "Excuse me! My name is Balki Bartokomous and I was wondering if you could help me?"
The man–dressed in a suit that resembled multi-colored aluminum foil–looked at him skeptically. "Where did you say you were from, son?"
"I didn't say where I was from and why you call me Son? You look nothing like Papa."
"Well, I'm asking now: where are you from?"
"I live in Chicago but I am from Mypos," Balki replied, puffing out his chest as he mentioned his birthplace.
Suddenly, the Reynolds Wrapper man laughed loudly and looked up to where three more people were working on scaffolds. Balki noticed that they, too, were wearing the same clothes. "Hey, fellas! Get a load of this! This boy says he's from Mypos! We must've missed one!"
The three men laughed as well before making their way down to a confused Balki. Where exactly was he and who were these men saying he was missing?
"You said you're from Mypos?" a guy with cotton-white hair and sunglasses repeated.
"Yes. Do you know where that is?"
The first man laughed again. "Son, this WAS Mypos! We don't call it Mypos anymore, though. We call this island Atropos! The Ky-Dels took over this land a few years ago and got rid of all those goat-herders and land-lovers! We ain't seen a Myposian here for years," the man told him before getting inches from his face and snarling. "Until now."
"No; this cannot be true! I know nothing of Ky-Dels and my family being shipped away. I would know if this were to be. My cousin Larry would have told me."
"Well, your cousin Larry is either stupid or lied to you, boy! We haven't had a Myposian set foot on this land for five years now and we're not going to let one in now! This here's a metropolitan island and you bunch of sheep-loving foreigners aren't welcome! Now get off our land before we throw you in the ocean!"
"You tell 'em, Liki!" the white-haired man cried.
"Not until you tell me what happened to Mama and my family!" Balki snapped. He wanted to be brave, but he was trembling more than Elvis when he was "All Shook Up".
"We forced 'em off this land. Told them they had to leave. Do you really think we care where they went?" Liki growled. "Now are you going to leave peacefully or are we gonna have to get rid of you altogether?"
Balki backed away slowly as the four of them moved closer like lions spotting a baby zebra.
"HELP!" he screamed, not knowing what else to do. He only wished he had a chance to say goodbye to Bianca and his cousin.
